


the torch i carry for you

by Tiara_of_Sapphires



Series: For Moments in Eternity (Setleth Week 2019) [5]
Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Modern Era, Post-Game, Reunion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-27
Updated: 2019-12-27
Packaged: 2021-02-25 20:41:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21981571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tiara_of_Sapphires/pseuds/Tiara_of_Sapphires
Summary: Even after centuries apart, even when they were the only ones who remained, it was as if nothing had changed at all.For Setleth Week Day 5: History
Relationships: My Unit | Byleth/Seteth
Series: For Moments in Eternity (Setleth Week 2019) [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1578190
Comments: 5
Kudos: 82





	the torch i carry for you

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to write something sad and happy!
> 
> Enjoy!

Even after all these years, she hadn’t forgotten herself, even as the world had forgotten her.

When her students and their children aged and died and she stayed the same, she knew. There was no place for her in Garreg Mach, or any part of Fódlan.

Soon, she wouldn’t be able to hide her true nature from the rest of the world. It was when the last of her students died that she retired from her post and walked away from her home.

She walked away from Seteth, too.

Despite the fact that he was the same, that he would not die in the same way as the people around him, she couldn't do it. She wanted to run and she couldn't do that with him at her side.

He was ever-patient and understanding and utterly sad, though the hollow feeling in her chest hadn’t abated. There was no yelling or demanding that she stay, though she had expected it. They were the same, but they couldn't be together.

She didn't return the ring he gave her at the Goddess Tower and he never asked for it back.

She packed her belongings and went north, leaving Fódlan behind.

Seasons changed and the years came and went.

Byleth never forgot Seteth or any of her students. She had looked for Flayn in her self-imposed exile, but could never find her.

She couldn't bring herself to visit her students’ graves in the times she found herself back in Fódlan. She didn't want to see what state they were in, if they were well-kept or left to erode. Those buried at Garreg Mach, she knew would be well-tended. Even through countless wars and storms, the walls still stood.

The world got louder and the buildings were taller. The use of swords and magic had all but gone extinct. The wyvern and the pegasus had fled from human eyes. Fódlan, all of her cities and cultures, were subsumed and changed to what was now unrecognizable to Byleth.

Some of the past remained. The Church of Seiros had faded to a shadow, but there were adherents even hundreds of years later. The names had been translated and retranslated until hers and that of those who fought in the war and rebuilt the now-ancient Kingdom of Fódlan were similarly lost to time. The grand cities still stood, even keeping their names.

She couldn't be too upset about her name disappearing from history, as she still lived. It was strange to see depictions of her in history books and reading her own stories as legend mixed with fact. She was a ghost, and yet not.

She had lingered for a couple decades in one region before moving to another. Despite, her travels, she often found herself in Fódlan. This time was no exception.

Byleth stood at the train station with her hands firmly stuffed in her coat pockets. There was no sword on her hip, only a pocketknife.

The train roared in and she stepped on. With a cursory glance, she saw no open seats and wandered to a less-crowded section of the train.

She let her mind wander.

Her life was a trail of dead identities across dozens of countries. Sometimes, she found herself babbling in one language or another and the person across from her could only blink in confusion until she corrected herself.

She dreaded returning to her little dusty section of an apartment on the far outskirts near Fhirdiad. It was drafty, moldy, and rodent-infested. There was no privacy, as she shared her room with three other people and the apartment as a whole with eight.

The train jostled her where she stood, sending her sideways.

She threw her hands out to brace herself on the seat, instead catching the arms of the seat’s occupant.

“I’m so—!” she exclaimed, only to freeze.

In this age, people liked to dye their hair. Her heart still jumped whenever she saw green. The one time she didn't check and didn’t notice, she found the one person who she was sure was gone forever.

She knew his true nature, but she didn't dare hope, until she saw it.

The same green hair and bright green eyes, that same jawline and stern expression.

Seteth regarded her with wide eyes, mouth hanging open in shock.

“Byleth?” he breathed.

Every fiber of her being wanted to run. All of the memories that she tried to keep suppressed came rushing back. The war, the kisses, the last time she had seen his face. Back then, he used her real name sparingly, only in private, intimate times. To hear it again felt like a physical blow.

“Seteth. It’s been a long time,” she replied, as evenly as she could.

She hadn’t said his name in a long time, but it fit in her mouth as if she had said it daily for centuries.

Seteth watched her, not reacting to her amazing understatement. A long time, indeed.

“Where’s your stop?”

She cleared her throat, struck by how strange this conversation was. Train stops didn't exist when they last met, and here they were, talking about them.

“City Center.”

His lips twitched. “I’m going the same way.”

If he was lying to stay close to her, she didn't know and didn't particularly care. The push-pull of wanting to cling to him and to shove him away from her tore at her insides.

She didn't know what to say. She had a thousand questions, but was unable to ask any of them.

They waited in silence until the intercom declared that they were approaching the stop.

Seteth rose, towering over her just as she remembered. She longed for him. They filed out in silence.

Fhirdiad had warmed over the centuries, but still the cool air bit at her face.

“Where are you going?” Seteth asked as he walked by her side.

“I have a meeting. For work.”

She _needed_ to make this meeting. She was barely making a living as it was, since her identity was roughly shambled together and the government couldn't squint too hard at her or else there would be many, many questions that she couldn't answer.

She was shrewd enough to not be taken advantage of, but there was little option for her to work in legitimate professions. She had found a company with little scruples that were fine with hiring a woman with green hair and a suspicious background. She couldn't lose this job or she would face homelessness. Again.

Byleth cleared her throat again. “It’s a little office in the city center. I don’t know how long it will take. If you need to leave…”

Now that they had found each other, she didn't want to lose him again. She couldn't be selfish in keeping him where he didn't want to be.

“I’ll wait for you,” he rushed out.

There was a heavy pause and Byleth could feel centuries of love and regret crushing her chest at the double-meaning. She had soundly rejected him so long, and yet he didn't push her away.

That, or he was just waiting for the polite to extract himself and disappear from her life once again.

She wanted to ask where he had been. Had he been affected by the tragedies that came and went in the centuries that they had been apart? Where was Flayn? Rhea?

Were they the last ones alive who remembered?

She looked him over. The navy-blue coat she remembered so well was gone, as was that gold circlet. Instead, he wore a white shirt and black coat and pants.

The glimmer on his hand had her heart dropping. A wedding ring? Had he moved on? Had he found a partner to live out this part of his life with?

And then, she saw the silver and the multi-colored gems.

“You still have the ring,” Byleth murmured.

Her father’s ring, the token she offered to him before the final battle against Edelgard. After all these years, he still held it. He _wore_ it.

“As do you.”

She glanced at her hand. The green stone still sparkled the same as the day he offered it to her.

“Yes.”

Finally, Byleth stopped in front of a brick building.

“You will wait for me? I don't want to keep you from anything.”

She dared to glance over to the man beside her. Even looking at him broke her a little on the inside.

Seteth shook his head. “No. This is more important. I will wait right here.”

Byleth nodded before starting up the stairs along the side of the building.

She turned back to look at him. His eyes seemed overly-bright, the same way when she walked away from him at Garreg Mach. Instead of walking away, he found a patio chair and sat down, pulling out of book.

The meeting passed in a blur. She couldn't pay any attention to the presentation on the board and the people droning on about productivity and production numbers. Her mind was only on the man who waited outside for her.

As soon as the meeting ended, she bolted down the stairs. Seteth was right where she left him, this time with an empty coffee cup on the table in front of him.

“You stayed,” she breathed.

“Of course, I did.” He rose, tucking the book in his bag. “My residence is a few blocks from here. Shall we?”

She agreed before she could think better of it.

A blinding smile flashed on his face before he schooled his expression. For a moment, she was sure she had imagined it.

He offered her his arm and she accepted, gently resting her hand on the crook of his elbow. They were quiet on their walk. It felt so surreal that she was sure that at any moment the world would return to the same sad loneliness she became used to. He led her to a tall building and he nodded at the doorman.

They stepped into the elevator and went up to the seventh floor.

She trailed behind him as he unlocked the front door to his apartment.

Stepping through the threshold, Byleth realized that Seteth had definitely been living a successful life since the last time they met. Whether it was always like this, she had no idea.

It was an apartment she couldn't hope to afford in her current situation. There were large windows and functional furniture. She couldn't feel any drafts, only a faint warmth. They were the only two people, from what she could tell.

“You clearly did a lot better than I did in this new world,” Byleth murmured.

It was shameful, that little spark of jealousy. She scrounged in the dirt and he seemed to have everything he could need to live comfortably.

“Allow me to make you some tea.”

Just like in the past, he would always offer her tea. No matter for what reason she found herself in his quarters, even when it was obvious that they would bypass the tea and wander to the bedroom.

The memory of it was too much. Byleth shook her head, training her gaze to the wooden floor.

“That’s more than what I deserve.”

She had been one of the only ones in history who understood him. They were cleaved to divine energy, doomed to live forever.

They could have persisted in this world together, if not _together_.

Centuries, wasted. She had been so lonely.

A hand touched her cheek, collecting the tears dripping down and she jerked up to see Seteth standing in front of her. His eyes were hooded and up-close she could see the dark shadows. She wanted to kiss the bruises away. She wanted to kiss him until her breath stopped in her chest.

The hand skimmed down her cheek to touch her chin.

“I missed you,” she confessed softly, wiping her face.

The hand at her chin dropped away and she _missed_ it. Aside from the spare loveless fuck, she hadn’t been touched by anyone. Now that she had that simple touch, from someone she loved, she couldn't be without it.

“Not a day has passed that I haven’t thought of you,” Seteth said.

She sniffed wetly and leaned forward. He didn't recoil and allowed her to rest her head against his chest.

It felt like a little piece of home.

“We can start again,” Byleth breathed. “After all, we have history together.”

The joke fell flat in the face of her quiet plea. She had grown in the years she had been alone. She had relearned her humanity and the loneliness that came with being divine and human could have driven her mad.

She couldn't do that again, not when this new chance was in front of her.

Silence reigned for a long moment before Seteth raised his arms to wrap around her. She snatched the opportunity and stepped closer to embrace him. Her body trembled in barely-repressed emotion.

“I have much to apologize for,” she gasped.

“No apology needed, my beloved.”

Her body shook in a sob. _Beloved_. How she had longed to hear that again. “Are you sure? It has been so long.”

“It is all forgiven. Now, we have the future. Do you understand?”

She nodded against his chest.

“I understand.”

She squeezed tightly around his chest and he squeezed back.

It had been a long time. It wouldn’t take a day to fix the hurt that she caused or to bridge the gap of centuries of distance. No matter what, Byleth knew that they would be able to do it together.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed!  
> [Here’s my Tumblr! Feel free to follow and drop Setleth drabble/fic requests!](https://tiaraofsapphires.tumblr.com/)  
> All feedback is appreciated! Comments/kudos feed me and definitely motivate me to write more stories!  
> Cheers!


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